Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias (49 page)

On May 16, Travis’s brother Steven was the first to address the jury and the judge. He stood before the jury and kept his back completely turned to the convicted murderer. Dressed in a light gray suit, he cleared his throat before beginning to read his written remarks. With great agony, he described in painstaking detail that he learned that his big brother was dead while serving our country in the U.S. Army. Through tears, he went on to say how it had impacted him in all the years since. “The nature of my brother’s murder has had a major impact on me. It’s even invaded my dreams,” said Steven, standing a mere six feet from the men and women who would decide the sentence of his brother’s killer. “I’ve had nightmares about somebody coming after me with a knife, then going after my wife and my daughter. I don’t want these nightmares anymore.” He went on to say Travis believed he was born to do good, because that was his destiny. He would never do it now. “He was brutally ripped out of this world, my world,” Steven said with anger. He softened his tone substantially as he finished his loving tribute. “Hopefully one day, I can make him proud.”

Samantha Alexander, Travis’s sister, was next. She too had been serving her country, as a police officer in Carlsbad, California, when she got the news. She began by holding up a photo of Travis and his beloved grandmother. “This is a picture of my grandmother,” she began through swells of tears. “She is the one who raised Travis.” She went on to say how much her grandmother had suffered at the loss of her grandson, and how she had died shortly before jury selection for this very trial. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. “Losing Travis has completely destroyed the health of our family . . . Travis was our strength, our beacon of hope, our motivation. Our lives will never be the same. We would give anything to have him back.” In the face of unthinkable circumstances, the Alexanders conducted themselves with dignity, grace, and courage.

And then it was time for Jodi’s side to plead for her life. On May 20, court was cut short when a penalty phase defense witness, Jodi’s friend Patricia, who was supposed to be providing mitigating circumstances on Jodi’s behalf, suddenly withdrew. She was expected to give character witness testimony about Jodi, who was her best friend in grade school. Jodi had attended Patti’s wedding and had given her a photo album as a gift. But Patti suddenly withdrew from the witness list, saying threats to her life made her reconsider. Nurmi told Judge Stephens that Martinez himself was involved with intimidating the witness, claiming he had some kind of dirt on her at a personal level. Nurmi immediately moved for a mistrial. Patti later explained that, yes, she felt threatened by anonymous online bloggers and mischaracterized by an intimidating prosecutor. But, in the end, she also felt that she didn’t really want to speak on Jodi’s behalf because she didn’t condone Jodi’s violent actions. She said the child she knew was loving and fun. The adult on trial was a stranger to her. Patti also felt bad for Travis’s family.

Judge Stephens denied this latest mistrial motion, but this time the defense team seemed genuinely furious. Nurmi and Willmott angrily asked to withdraw from the case. “Ms. Willmott and I move to withdraw,” petitioned Nurmi. “We cannot present a full picture [of Jodi’s life] as incumbent upon us. We cannot fulfill our duties.” Judge Stephens denied that request also. In a shocking move, Nurmi told the court there would be no defense witnesses for the penalty phase. The defense abandoned its plan to call witnesses in support of eight mitigating factors they had listed. Jodi’s own statement to the jury, known as an allocution, was all the defense would present at this phase. The eight mitigating factors included that Jodi suffered abuse as a child and an adult. The defense had presented their evidence of this factor, ad nauseam, in the guilt phase of the trial. So it wasn’t as though the jury had no evidence to consider. Other factors were that she had no criminal history, she lacked family support, she was a talented artist, and that she consistently tried to improve herself.

On May 21, 2013, slightly after noon, Jodi began her nineteen-minute allocution. She was not under oath and she could not be cross-examined. The big question was whether she would express remorse for killing Travis. She wore a black sweater-like top matched with a tailored black mid-length skirt. Her glasses were on, and she rose from the defense table to take the podium.

Jodi told the panel about charitable work she was planning from prison, including donating her hair to the Locks of Love organization. She acknowledged that the jury did not think she was battered, but she said that didn’t prevent her from wanting to help raise awareness of domestic violence. With that, she held up a T-shirt of her own design, emblazoned with the word “Survivor.” It was a jaw-dropping move. She was supposed to be pleading for her life. Instead, she seemed determined to get in one last dig at her dead ex-lover. Court spectators were dumbfounded by her gall . . . and her self-destructiveness. Did Jodi really think this was going to win her points with a jury that had clearly concluded she was lying about Travis hitting her? She also said she hoped to improve literacy in prison by starting a book club and reduce solid waste by implementing a recycling program. Jodi talked about happier times. She showed pictures from her childhood, displaying ones of herself at different ages throughout the years. She had pictures of her ex-boyfriends, remembering the good times they had shared.

A weirdly comfortable and confident Jodi showed samples of the drawings she had made in jail. They were done in pencil, as that is the only medium allowed an inmate at the jail where she had been residing for almost five years. Besides no longer being able to paint in oils, she listed other life milestones that would never be enjoyed by her: being a mother, going to her sister’s wedding, or spending time with her family.

Finally, Jodi came to Travis. She said she loved him. She had wanted to avoid a trial for the sake of his reputation, but she felt obligated to answer the questions posed to her truthfully. She had not wanted to expose the secrets inside the emails, texts, and phone calls, but in the name of the truth, she had honored the oath she had taken. Her presentation was perhaps the most astounding display of doublespeak ever broadcast on TV. The nation’s most infamous liar was speaking of honor and oaths and truth. Was she aware of her capacity to infuriate?

As for murdering Travis, “I can hardly believe I was capable of such violence; I will be sorry for the rest of my life, probably longer . . . I see with Travis’s family much greater loss, one that I can never make up for. I hope with the verdict they will gain a sense of closure.” While the word “sorry” was uttered, it never came in the sentence
I am sorry for what I have done. Please forgive me.
For the family of Travis Alexander it was one more slap in the face. With that, the case came to a close.

Yet, even as jurors retired to grapple with the agonizing question of whether Jodi should live or die, she was back at the Estrella jail giving a slew of media interviews to local and national TV outlets well into the night. Amy Murphy, a reporter with Phoenix’s ABC 15 TV, was one of the journalists who made Jodi’s cut. Amy had actually observed the process whereby Jodi decided whom she’d talk to, describing it as “very anal, ’cause I saw the list. She had actually gone through the list herself. She took her pen and drew a line all the way across the news agency or the reporter’s name. And then the ones that she wanted, she put a little check mark by.” Jodi appeared wearing makeup and a civilian top and asked the reporters not to shoot her from the waist down, so as to hide her jail uniform bottoms. Amy explained, “We learned later that a local station had purchased makeup for her upon her request. She asked for waterproof mascara, foundation. And they brought that to her. And she looked like a tiny little waif of a woman . . . so incapable of doing the horrific things that she did to Travis Alexander.” Amy, scoring a coup for her news station, asked Jodi the questions that were at the tip of tongues across the nation. Everybody wanted to know why Jodi’s mother failed to get up and plead for her daughter’s life before the jury. Jodi said that it was her defense team’s decision not to have her mother talk. But, Jodi claimed, her mom had written a letter and the court had a record of it.

Amy pressed her on key issues. “Why did you say you wanted the death penalty and then change your mind?”

Jodi replied, “My cousin convinced me. The way she said it. She said regardless of what happens, there’s still a lot of hope and a lot of things that can be done and don’t do that to your mom.”

Amy went on, “Samantha Alexander said, ‘We will never get those images of our brother’s neck being slit out of our minds.’ How have you gotten it out of your mind?”

“It is not out of my mind, but mostly I avoid looking at it, but it is there and I’ve seen it.” Amy Murphy said, after talking to Jodi one on one, she came away convinced that she was insane. Amy felt Jodi absolutely knew right from wrong but was, otherwise, seriously off.

A
fter four days of deliberation, the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision as to whether Jodi should get the death penalty or a sentence of life in prison. In light of the deadlock, Judge Stephens declared a mistrial in the penalty phase of deliberations. A new trial, with a new jury, was scheduled to begin later in the summer, for sentencing purposes only. It appeared the drama would continue. We were all prepared for press conferences following the penalty phase but, because it was a deadlock, again no one talked. It was still considered a pending case.

After Jodi’s penalty phase was declared a mistrial, it was revealed that the majority of jurors had voted to put Jodi to death. The vote was eight in favor, four opposed, but unanimity was required. Jurors did begin to speak out, however. Jury foreman William Zervakos, juror #18, gave several interviews, including an expansive one with HLN affiliate KTVK in Phoenix. He said he was one of the four jurors who voted against the death penalty, saying there were multiple mitigating factors, among them Jodi’s age, the fact that she had no criminal record, and her “dysfunctional” family. During an appearance on
Good Morning America,
the day after Judge Stephens declared a mistrial in the death penalty phase, Zervakos voiced his opinion. “All of the testimony that I listened to, and that I actually heard as well as read, I do believe he verbally abused her,” he stated. “There was just too much evidence, that . . . you know, again not an excuse. And believe me, I’m not painting Jodi Arias a sympathetic figure.”

Zervakos made it clear that Travis “didn’t deserve to die.” “I’m not blaming the dead guy,” he said. “What she [Jodi] did was horrific, and she’s got to pay for it. And she is going to . . . But Jodi is a human being. Our jurisprudence system is based on ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ And this girl was crucified in the court of public opinion. We didn’t know that, of course, until after the fact.” In return for his candor, this foreman also found himself on the receiving end of death threats as the line between free speech and harassment melted in a cyber world where anonymous bullies let loose without fear.

Jodi’s fate will yet be decided by a jury of her peers, exactly according to the rules of justice we have come to cherish, saints and sinners alike.

The absolute, fiery passion outsiders had for the capital murder trial of Jodi Arias was manifesting not just at the courthouse but around the country. Networks covering the trial saw their ratings skyrocket. People in large cities and small towns were fixated on the trial’s daily developments whether it was a witness blunder, Jodi’s demeanor and hairstyle, or Martinez’s latest rock star status. Social media exploded with opinions about
all
of the players, from the victim to the attorneys to each and every witness. Every juror, though known only by number and never shown on camera, was subjected to a character judgment. Opinions about the defendant were explosive and
overwhelmingly
negative, though she did have a following. It seemed females, especially, saw in Jodi something that was loathsome at the core, something wicked and evil. Many women who were true victims of domestic violence were
deeply
offended by her allegations.

Buzzwords from the testimony took their places in our conversations: “three-hole wonder”; “dirty little secret”; “Snow White was a battered woman,” “hottie biscotti.” Everyone had an opinion and purported to know what
really
happened because somehow they were better witnesses and better judges of the truth than the people testifying for either side. From the spectators’ point of view, at times,
The State v. Jodi Ann Arias
was part soap opera, part circus, the other part gladiator spectacle. The trial had elements everyone could relate to and some that appealed to the voyeur in us: conflicts with religion, chastity, and secrets; kinky sex and lies; passion, obsession, jealousy, cheating, violence, and the ultimate crime of murder. Travis was murdered viciously in cold blood, killed three times over. Jodi Arias may spend the rest of her natural life in prison. However, as of this publication, she has not yet been sentenced, so she could be put to death long before she dies of natural causes. She still has the right to appeal, a process that will surely add years to any conclusion. Travis never realized his dream of “Being Better,” his philosophy of constant improvement until he reached the top expressed in his blog. And Jodi? She threw away her life while robbing the world of Travis’s. At least Jodi will never have the chance to murder, slaughter, or butcher again.

EPILOGUE

T
he trial of Jodi Arias was an absolute phenomenon. In terms of the television viewing audience, it ranked with the trials of O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony. In those other two cases, however, the verdicts delivered were the opposite of what the public was expecting, and the calls for justice were left deeply unsatisfied. With Jodi, the verdict was both predicted and categorically hailed. Of course, a lot of things were different in this case. For one, Jodi had confessed to the killing, even though it had taken her two years to get to that point, and even then she tried to spin it.